We held a town hall meeting in December 2023 about the upcoming staff salary conversations that will be happening at the Provost’s Advisory Committee on Staff Compensation (PACSC). The outcome of these conversations will be several recommendations to the Provost related to compensation, including salary range increases over the next few years. Thank you to everyone who attended and sent in questions to contribute to this important discussion!
If you missed it, you can watch the recording, in which we explain how PACSC works, what these salary conversations cover and how we’re preparing for them, and answer questions from members and other staff about the process and potential outcomes. You can also see the results of our Mentimeter polling about priorities for the discussions, and slides from the event.
- Town hall recording (watch on Stream)
- Mentimeter results (PDF)
- Slides
We’re also assembling a Q&A to answer questions we received before, during, and after the event.
Overview
Here’s what Policy 5 (Salary Administration, University Support Staff) says about how the “range adjustment” (or scale increase) is decided:
University salary ranges are set on May 1 each year by a range adjustment to job values. PACSC is responsible for preparing recommendations to the Vice-President, Academic & Provost, as to what this range adjustment is. The Provost then passes those recommendations on to the Board of Governors for approval.
“This adjustment is determined from a variety of factors including data collected on range adjustments locally, provincially, and nationally. As well, information on the increase to the cost of living and other relevant data are considered.”
“The policy of the university is to pay competitive salaries within the limits of its financial situation. Human Resources is responsible for reviewing the salary structure at least once a year and presenting its findings to PACSC.”
PACSC also reviews and recommends policies on matters of compensation other than salaries such as overtime, leaves, vacations, paid holidays, moving expenses, working conditions, and other matters referred by the president, vice-presidents, or members of the committee.
Here are the details of the past three compensation recommendations:
Questions
Will the dramatic rise in the cost of living be addressed as part of the compensation in addition to regular increases?
Cost of living is one of the factors in how the ‘regular’ (annual) increases are determined.
The Provost’s Office FAQ from the recent budget town hall reminds us that: “The goal of these established [salary discussion] processes is to provide fair compensation rates informed by market rates for all employee groups and all levels of employees. Salary negotiations take into account market salary data/comparators, inflation data and affordability.”
How often is a market comparison completed to see how our salaries are relative to other institutions?
Our last compensation agreement specified that PACSC would hire a third party to run market salary data for the next discussions: “PACSC will conduct a review of the competitiveness of benchmark jobs in 2023 through the engagement of an external compensation consultant to inform scale adjustments for the agreement effective 1 May 2024.” This has been completed and continues to be discussed at PACSC.
Market comparisons have also been done for the last 2 rounds of salary recommendations with UW.
Bill 124 has ensured salaries have remained artificially low. A market comparison now will reflect this at other organizations. How will the market analysis compensate for this?
Bill 124 only applied to public sector employers, like universities and hospitals. Market comparisons are broader, and include both public and private sector employers. Further, many of our comparators have already negotiated new agreements since Bill 124 was struck down. But yes, we will take this into account!
The USG salary ranges will have to move to cover the recent (Bill 124) increases and again to provide further increases in 2024. If the ranges are not moved by at least 3% in 2024, any increases we received in October will be gradually clawed back. How are our PACSC representatives addressing this?
For those not familiar with the issue: Annual salary increases are designed to move you toward your target salary (which is related to job value), at which point merit increases will slow down. The job value also increases each year to keep moving everyone up. The Bill 124 adjustment means that the salaries of eligible staff have already moved closer to (or past) job value, so that “slowing down” effect will be stronger unless the job values increase enough to offset it.
We will be taking this into account in our discussions!
New workers in the last couple of years did not see a Bill 124 increase. Will there be any specific attention given to these individuals?
The salaries of those who were hired after May 1, 2021, and weren’t eligible for the Bill 124 adjustment may be slightly “behind” than those who were eligible. The system will work to close this gap, as it is designed to give a larger increase to staff who are further below job value.
How do the University budget circumstances effect the salary negotiations?
Though we are taking into account the University’s financial position, we are also assured by the Provost that the goal of the established process is to provide fair compensation informed by market rates for all employee groups and all levels of employees. The Provost’s Operating Budget Town Hall Q&A states: “Salary negotiations take into account market salary data/comparators, inflation data and affordability. Our work to address the budget gap will need to take into account the salary scale increases with employee groups that are negotiated through these established processes.”
How will our contract members benefit from these salary discussions?
The UWSA did not represent contract staff until our new Memorandum of Agreement with the University passed in late October 2022. Now that we do, when advocating for changes to total compensation, working conditions, and the work environment, our work applies to both contract and permanent staff.
As the salary ranges increase each year, when you renew your contract, your salary should reflect that higher salary range. While permanent staff get an automatic increase on May 1, you should be looking for that increase whenever your contract is renewed and it should be commensurate with the annual increase for permanent staff.
How do our salary agreements relate to FAUW’s?
Our compensation conversations typically take place at the same time as FAUW’s negotiations, and our salary range adjustments are usually the same as the FAUW scale increases. Any new or increased benefits that FAUW negotiates are contingent on them being part of our agreement as well, as the University has one benefits plan for all employees. Our agreements are usually very similar.
How can we get vision or other things added to our health coverage?
Our benefits package is determined by the Pension & Benefits Committee. The staff representatives on that committee are selected by the UWSA Appointments Committee, coordinate with the UWSA Operations Team and other employee groups, and report back to members regularly.
During salary conversations, we can advocate for more funding to be allotted to benefits in general or for specific items. Vision care in particular will be difficult to achieve, as research has repeatedly shown that it would significantly increase the cost of our healthcare plan, which is currently 100% funded by the university, with no premiums paid by employees. However, this is an item we are still looking at due to its desirability.
What is being done, or can be done, to better standardize job grading and role definitions across campus?
From the October 2023 Board of Governors meeting agenda (page 20): "A Strategic Talent and Performance Management Framework project and consultancy is underway, in partnership with Deloitte, to assess and strategize improvements in performance management, connecting individual performance and unit and institutional-level goal attainment, alignment to Waterloo’s values and desired shifts to organizational culture, supporting career mobility and laddering, and building greater understanding and shared structures to job families and competencies across the institution."
Has the feasibility of the 'non-monetary' suggestions that do not already exist been validated? How are these suggestions to be funded?
The suggestions we shared during the meeting have not yet been researched or vetted. We will have to prioritize and evaluate the items based on feasibility and equity before deciding which, if any, to pursue at this time or later. Any of these items would be funded out of the University budget, which is why they’re part of our compensation discussions.
Can we discuss the possibility of twice-monthly in addition to monthly and bi-weekly pay periods?
The issue of pay periods is being worked on by the newly appointed Pay Cycles Working Group. It is important to note that bi-weekly pay can pose complications compared with twice-monthly or monthly and our representatives on the Working group will look more closely at the options.
Does the UWSA take a principled stance on broader issues like tackling climate change and, if so, will those principles be considered before recommending popular but environmentally harmful requests such as reduced parking fees?
The University’s sustainability commitments are absolutely part of the discussion about parking and other forms of commuting. Parking fees are determined by the Advisory Committee on Traffic Violations and Parking, and changes for the next year have already been decided and should be announced soon. Reducing the cost of would come at a very significant cost for the University, and could be a taxable benefit for employees.
Can we continue the free staff workouts "Ways to Play" for staff in PAC and CIF, Yoga with Joshua, and Pilates with Eva?
These programs are funded by the Staff Excellence Fund and reviewed each year by that committee. There’s been no indication of changes to that fund. Any feedback you provide to the coordinators of those programs or to the SEF committee may help them get renewed funding!
Could we get a floater day that could be used for various cultural holidays: Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Ramadan, Passover, Diwali, and so on?
The University of Waterloo does have a duty to accommodate religious and spiritual observances under the Ontario Human Rights Code, but this could be more well known and used. This is of particular interest to our current president, and is in line with the diversity efforts being made across campus. Great suggestion, thank you!
Can we look into a wellness-based vacation policy that has all people allotted three weeks on arrival and has mechanisms for hiring the mid-career experience we need?
All new staff can use vacation credits as you accrue them (in other words, you can take the next year’s vacation days early). We will look into further improvements in this area.
How much does the University contribute to our pensions?
Our pension plan is a defined benefit plan*, not a defined contribution plan, so the amount the University contributes is not tied directly to an individual or how much we each contribute. Rather, the University contributes however much is required to fund the amount we are each guaranteed in retirement. Defined benefit plans are increasingly rare and offer more predictability and security than defined contribution plans. UW’s pension plan is 109.8% funded as of March 31, 2023, and the employer contribution level is currently set at 139% of employee contributions. In other words, for every dollar you contribute, they’re contributing $1.39.
*A defined benefit plan means that you can count on a set monthly amount for as long as you live, regardless of market fluctuations and other factors. This is not true with a defined contribution plan. Learn more about these two types of pension plans.
Many people start on contract and may be there for years before moving to permanent. Is there any possibility of counting contract time as years of service for vacation credits and other benefits?
For benefits: While contracts under two years aren’t eligible for dental benefits, once you reach two years of continuous employment, that is considered ongoing for benefits purposes! In HR's words: If the "contract duration is less than 2 years, eligibility could be attained later through service accumulation."
The same cannot be said for vacation at this point in time, but we can look into this.
Contract employees are currently only eligible to apply internally for the position they’re currently in. Are you working to expand that so contract staff can apply for any internal position?
From HR: "Policy 18 allows for eligibility for a contract member of staff to apply as an internal once they have been in the role for 1 year. Policy 18 is on the list for review and this is something that could be raised by the UWSA reps at that time."
What can be done about internal movement and gaps in pay? For example, if a staff member moves from USG 8 to USG 10, why is the salary capped? We often hear that the salary can't be more than X% of current salary yet an external candidate wouldn’t have that limit. Isn't that punitive to current staff?
From HR: "Policy 5 provides the details that guide salary decisions corresponding with promotions and transfers for internal movement as well as starting salaries. For internal movement, salaries may be increased up to the new job value if the employee is promoted to a higher USG job grade, and if they are already paid above the [new] job value, a maximum increase of 5% applies."
In other words: Current employees moving to a role at a higher USG will start the new role at or possibly above the new job value. New hires are always capped at the job value when they start, so this actually benefits current staff compared to external candidates.
Could spouses be covered by the Policy 24 tuition benefit? Why can’t spouses who both work at UW ‘stack’ their tuition benefits?
The coordination of health and dental benefits reflects the fact that, if one spouse worked at another institution, you would be able to ‘stack’ or coordinate your benefits between the two plans. If one spouse worked at another institution, you would not have two tuition benefits to stack, so the two benefits are not quite analogous.
Further, the tuition benefit is technically allotted to each child, not to each staff member. Here's what HR said: "The tuition benefit provides a 50% discount per student if they are a dependent child of a UW employee or UW employees. At this time, the policy does not extend the discount to spouses of UW employees."
Is there a limit on salary increases in general?
From HR: "A staff employee cannot receive a salary increase through the annual increase process that would result in a salary above the target salary for the position. The target salary is determined annually through the performance rating assigned to the previous calendar year (i.e. rating of 4 aligns with a target salary of 110% of job value for the position). Additionally, the staff compensation structure has an 80% to 120% of job value range of pay associated with each USG job grade. Salaries cannot exceed 120% of job value for the position."
Are Performance Appraisals filed with HR? Does it include all the written feedback or just the rating? And who has access to this information?
Yes, staff performance documentation is printed, signed, and sent to HR (i.e. the Total Rewards Specialists) for secure filing within HR for a period of five years.
In the past, these documents were used to collect the performance ratings to enable merit program calculations; however, Total Rewards Specialists currently collect performance ratings from salary pool approvers through Excel files. An audit against the performance rating included in the documentation is not conducted but if there’s ever a concern about alignment, the documentation can be referred to as the official record. Access to the performance documentation is restricted within HR but is referenced by HR Partners and Talent Acquisition Specialists if there is a need.